Ombudswomen agree to transfer 18 convicts from occupied Crimea

Ombudswomen of Ukraine and Russia have agreed to transfer 18 convicts from the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea to the territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine, Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Valeria Lutkovska said after a meeting with her Russian counterpart Tatyana Moskalkova.

Photo from UNIAN

The meeting was held in Minsk on June 21, 2016, the press service of the Ukrainian Ombudswoman told an UNIAN correspondent.

"We have reached an agreement on 18 prisoners, but this is not a complete list. We exchanged lists, we checked them. My list is a bit longer, including about 40 people. I handed it to Tatyana Nikolayevna for further discussion," Lutkovska said.

Read alsoAbout 7,000 Ukrainians in Russian jails – Ukraine MFAAccording to her, they also discussed other topics. The date of the next meeting has not been scheduled , however, the ombudswomen have assured that they will meet and discuss issues on the situation in eastern Ukraine, as well as problems with the violation of the rights of Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars in Crimea and Ukrainian prisoners in Russia.

Lutkovska also reminded that the ombudswomen had signed a memorandum on cooperation in 2013.

Read alsoRussian GRU plotted to blow up SBU detention center in Kyiv – SBU chief"We agreed that it is necessary to update the memorandum and that it should be aligned to the existing state of affairs. In our mutual conviction, this document should act so that the Ukrainian citizens in Russia and Russian citizens in Ukraine could be under the protection of human rights commissioners," Lutkovska said.

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